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What's on - Events by event type

The University will make every effort to provide disabled access, where possible, to all of its events.
If you have any support requirements due to a disability, please contact the event organiser directly at the earliest opportunity.

Ceremony

Wednesday 4 March 2015

Churchill 2015: Churchill: For and againstOrganised by
Public and Ceremonial Events

Dr Paul Addison, Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh.

Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ,
6:00-7:30pm

Winston Churchill was a highly controversial figure in his lifetime and even today, half a century after his death, his critics and admirers remain sharply divided over his merits. Dr Paul Addison will discuss the reasons why Churchill continues to generate debate and offers a personal assessment of his achievements and failures. Further information is available

Product design and research with children: supporting children in careOrganised by
Best of Bristol Lectures

Dr Debbie Watson, School for Policy Studies.

Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building,
1:00pm

This lecture explores how research with children can support those in care. One such project will be explored in the lecture; providing insights into the co-productive role of children in research and development processes, the challenges of interdisciplinary research, identity maintenance for looked after children and the role of material culture to identity processes. Further information is available on our website

Friends of the University of Bristol Botanic Garden 40th Anniversary ConcertOrganised by
The Botanic Garden

The Bristol University Singers and The Bristol University Madrigal Ensemble.

The Victoria Rooms, Queens Road, Bristol BS8 1SA,
2:30pm

A concert of light and classical music to mark the start of celebrations throughout 2015 of 40 years since the formation of the Friends. In addition to the music there will be a display of material from the archives with memories and anecdotes from members. Further information is available

£8 .Early bird available until 31st January offering the second ticket at half price.Tickets are available from the University's Online Shop, or from John Leach, 17 Ashton Crescent, Nailsea BS48 2JR (Telephone: 01275 854992).
Contact for other queries, the Botanic Garden
on
+44 (0)117 - 331 4906 or
botanic-gardens@bristol.ac.uk

Conference

Association of Art Historians Annual Conference 2015 - Weimar's 'Other': Visual culture in Germany after 1918Organised by
History of Art

Sainsbury Insitute for Art, UEA, Norwich,
9:00am

This session explores the cultural practice, production and reception of neglected populations both from the Republic's cities, the parallel city of Vienna and the rural provinces, particularly in relation to the themes of sexuality and gender, which have become central to our understanding of Weimar. Further information is available

The Festival of Physics will include lectures, workshops, demonstrations and an inflatable planetarium! Exhibits include: Explorer Dome, Liquid Nitrogen Show (Badminton School students), Physics Busking (Physics undergraduates), Demonstrations of First-year Undergraduate Physics Experiments and Prof J Butterworth ? book signing - "Smashing Physics", is the story of the discovery of the Higgs boson. Further information is available

Psychologists have documented the cognitive biases that make us irrational. Philosophers have tried to codify the rules of rational thought. But how can we use reason to explore its own shortcomings? After exploring one answer, Professor Pettigrew discuss the disastrous effects of these biases on the diversity of participation in academia. Further information is available

The Idea of the University: the University in Crisis?Organised by
Best of Bristol Lectures

Dr Ian Wei, Department of History.

Goldney Hall,
7:30pm

University websites tell us that universities are wonderful in every way. Governments declare that their higher education policies have been hugely successful. The achievements of students are indeed remarkable. But much recent academic work argues that universities today are in crisis. So, is there a crisis and should we be worried?. Further information is available on our website

Roger Scruton argues that the only true conservationist and environmentalist is a Conservative. Conservatism is far better suited to tackle environmental problems than either liberalism or socialism; rather than entrusting the environment to unwieldy NGOs and international committees, we must all assume personal responsibility and foster local sovereignty. Further information is available

What makes a good film? Teaching film criticism and evaluationOrganised by
Best of Bristol Lectures

Dr Pete Falconer, Department of Film & Television.

Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building,
1:00pm

In this lecture, Pete Falconer will reflect on my experiences of teaching film criticism and evaluation to university students at Bristol and elsewhere. How do we appreciate film, and how do we teach it? See the website for more details. Further information is available on our website

Damaged Landscapes of the Anthropocene: the cost of living in the modern worldOrganised by
Best of Bristol Lectures

Dr Merle Patchett, School of Geographical Sciences.

Churchill Hall,
7:30pm

We live on a human-damaged planet. So much so that scientists worldwide are increasingly recognising this period of human disturbance of the Earth's ecosystems as a new geologic epoch named the Anthropocene. This lecture explores this provocation by visiting some of world's most human-disturbed landscapes and asks, can we continue like this?. Further information is available on our website

Guest speaker Gonzalo de Polavieja will be providing a talk about his research on decision-making and learning in animal groups and insights for human interactions. This talk will also showcase the use of the idTracker technology which allows video analysis of groups whilst tracking individuals without propagation of mistakes (increasing the amount of useable data). Further information is available

What is the connection between the electrical current in a microscopic cavity and the arrival times of buses in a Mexican city? Random matrices model phenomena that have little or nothing in common. Professor Francesco Mezzadri will give an overview of some applications and highlight recent advances in the field. Further information is available

Jean Monnet Lecture: Germany and the Eurozone crisis: the Emergence of the EU's New Hegemon?Organised by
School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies

Professor Simon Bulmer, University of Sheffield.

2D3, Social Sciences Complex, Priory Road, BS8 1TN,
5:00-6:00pm

Has Germany assumed the role of the EU's hegemon? Evidence from the Eurozone crisis points in this direction. Yet there are clear limits to Germany playing this role. Simon Bulmer will consider these issues and the wider implications for the EU's future. Organised by Prof Michelle Cini, Jean Monnet Chair

As a curiosity-driven scientist, understanding the past climate of our Earth (from the scorching greenhouse of the mid-Cretaceous, to the frozen wastes of the last ice age) is of fundamental interest. However, how can such understanding improve our predictions of future climate change? And what can we learn about climate from Lord of the Rings?!. Further information is available

The publication of the Lyrical Ballads in Bristol in 1798 launched the Romantic poetry movement. Richard Holmes looks at the life and work of Coleridge at this critical moment, and explores the varied interpretations of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and its powerful emergence as a modern eco-fable. Further information is available

The best selling show: Is there life on Mars?Organised by
Best of Bristol Lectures

Dr Lucy Berthoud, Department of Aerospace Engineering.

Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building,
1:00pm

Dr Lucy Berthoud, who has worked at NASA and the European Space Agency, now teaches spacecraft design and will talk about her involvement with current and future Mars missions. She will explain, and demonstrate practically, the difficulties of getting to Mars and of bringing a Mars sample back to the Earth. Further information is available on our website

This lecture will tell the story of a movement which emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in Italy in opposition to psychiatric hospitals. Its aim was to replace the asylum system with different forms of care. In 1978, this principle was enshrined in an historic law. The movement had won. Further information is available

Lord Giddens will consider how much progress has been made over the intervening years in containing global warming, arguably one of the greatest threats to a stable future for humanity. Lord Giddens is a world renowned sociologist, a Labour peer and author or editor of 40 books translated into over 40 languages worldwide. Further information is available

A cyborg genealogy: science fiction in the classicsOrganised by
Best of Bristol Lectures

Dr Genevieve Liveley, Department of Classics.

Clifton Hill House,
7:30pm

Mythographers of the cyborg often assume that this monstrous hybrid, part-human and part-machine, part-being and part metaphor. This lecture will trace the imaginative history of the cyborg all the way to the ninth century BCE, and map a cyborg genealogy back to the mythical monsters of classical Greece. Further information is available on our website

Inaugural lecture: A passing glance of wonder and pity: reflections on the history of medieval IrelandOrganised by
Public and Ceremonial Events

Professor Brendan Smith, Department of History (Historical Studies.

Pugsley Lecture Theatre, Queens School of Engineering, University of Bristol, BS8 1TR,
6:00-7:00pm

Ireland was England's first colony. The spread of English power and English people throughout the neighbouring island after 1170 inspired a burst of literary activity as contemporaries sought to justify or discredit this colonial venture. This lecture explores what these writings reveal, and conceal, about Ireland's medieval past. Further information is available

Churchill 2015: A different sort of Chancellor? Churchill and the University of BristolOrganised by
Public and Ceremonial Events

Sir David Cannadine FBA, Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University.

Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ,
6:00-7:30pm

Throughout his long life, Winston Churchill's attitude to higher education was complex. Professor Sir David Cannadine will explore Churchill's attitudes to higher education in general, and his particular - and unique - relationship with Bristol, of which he was Chancellor from 1929 until his death in 1965. Further information is available

Medical Humanities guest lecture: 'Michel Serres' nonmodern Lucretius and the time of reception'Organised by
Faculty of Arts

Brooke Holmes, Professor Classics at Princeton University.

LT1 in the Arts Complex,
4:00pm

The presentation of an atomic universe in Lucretius' philosophical epic On the nature of things (De rerum natura), has been the subject of extensive work by Michel Serres. Brooke Holmes asks, amongst others, what it means for an ancient poem to be received as "true" in the realm of physics. Further information is available

The Church and Organised Crime in ItalyOrganised by
Department of Italian, in association with La Civetta and the International Affairs Society

John Dickie (University College London).

Lecture Theatre 3, School of Chemistry, Cantock's Close,
5:15pm

Pope Francis recently ex-communicated mafiosi. The fact that Francis is the first Pope ever to have uttered such an ex-communication towards mafiosi is indicative of just how long the Church has been silent - at best - on the mafia issue. In this lecture, John Dickie examines the past and present of the Church-mafia relationship.

Inaugural lecture: Reducing hospital admissions: myth or reality?Organised by
Public and Ceremonial Events

Professor Sarah Purdy, School of Social and Community Medicine.

E29, Medical Sciences Building, University Walk, BS8 1TD,
6:00-7:00pm

The need to reduce pressure on hospitals is a priority for the NHS and driving down the number of potentially avoidable admissions is a focus both nationally and locally. We need to better understand who is at risk of admission, which admissions are avoidable and which interventions are effective. Further information is available

Cadavers and computers: the changing face of Medical Anatomy teachingOrganised by
Best of Bristol Lectures

Liz Gaze, Centre for Comparative & Clinical Anatomy.

Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building,
1:00pm

How has anatomy teaching changed over the years? This lecture reviews how style and content have developed. How has technology influenced and enhanced the changes? We will look at how both teaching practices and recommendations from the General Medical Council have radically altered the way anatomy is taught at Bristol. Further information is available on our website

Tim's talk will look at the sustainability of food production: why growing vegetables organically is better for us, for the soil and the environment. He will consider the advantages of a de-centralised system, the benefits to us and what we have to do to make it all happen. All in one hour. Further information is available

Free for Friends of the Botanic Garden on production of their membership card. Visitors will be asked to make a donation.
Contact for other queries, the Botanic Garden
on
+44 (0)117 - 331 4906 or
botanic-gardens@bristol.ac.uk

Monday 23 March 2015

Inaugural lecture: Life on ice: microbial attack on glaciersOrganised by
Public and Ceremonial Events

It is now recognised that large expanses of ice in the polar regions are inhabited by active microbial communities forming one of the biomes of Earth. Microbes on ice are diverse, play an important role in the cycling of nutrients and can even modify the physical environment they live. Further information is available

Veterinary Public Health and your Sunday Roast - the role of vets in the production of safe meatOrganised by
Best of Bristol Lectures

Andrew Grist, School of Veterinary Sciences.

Badock Hall,
7:30pm

In general, as consumers, only a few of us are aware of the veterinary input for the production of safe meat post farm gate. This lecture reviews the role veterinarians play in the meat industry, the laws they enforce on our behalf and some examples of what they protect us from. Further information is available on our website

With illustrations from Kafka, Hofmannsthal, Kraus, Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Marinetti, and many others, Professor Vilain's lecture looks at how early 20th-century European literature represented changes in the mechanisms of communication and social ritual brought about by the telephone, and explores the consequences of such changes for language, the mind, and even the soul. Further information is available

In his utopian community the Pantisocracy, Coleridge believed that animals were to be brothers and sisters 'in the Fraternity of universal Nature'. Animal rights and animal welfare were debated widely amongst the Romantics and remain controversial issues today. Andrew Kelly looks at the views of the Romantics and today's campaigns for animals. Further information is available

Coleridge Lectures 2015: Re-imagining the CityOrganised by
The Cabot Institute, in association with the Festival of Ideas

Melissa Harrison worked in non-fiction publishing for several years before moving into magazines with clients including Vogue, Time Out, Stuff and Mixmag. In 2008 she began spending more time on her own writing, and she won the John Muir Trust's Award for Wild Writing in 2010.

Think of 'nature' and most of us think of the deep countryside - but the natural world can live side-by-side with us in cities, too. In a richly imagined journey through one day in a British city, Melissa Harrison brings to life a world that most never know is there. Further information is available

Churchill 2015: Churchill: Memories of my grandfatherOrganised by
Public and Ceremonial Events

Celia Sandys.

Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ,
6:00-7:30pm

Celia Sandys is an internationally recognised author, speaker and television presenter on the subject of her grandfather, Sir Winston Churchil. Celia will journey through her personal memories of Churchill as a family man including holidaying with him in the Mediterranean and growing up at Chartwell and Chequers. Further information is available

Churchill 2015: The history manOrganised by
Public and Ceremonial Events

Professor David Reynolds, Professor of International History and Chairman of the History Faculty at the University of Cambridge.

Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ,
6:00-7:30pm

Winston Churchill, though renowned as a politician and war leader, earned his living as a writer and won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Professor David Reynolds will reflect on Churchill's historical writings and also consider how a vision of history and of Britain's place in it was central to Churchill's whole worldview as a statesman. Further information is available

Heroin, and other opioid drugs are used extensively in the treatment of severe pain, but they are also drugs of abuse that are the major cause of death amongst drug addicts. Professor Henderson will discuss advances in opioid pharmacology that may lead to the development of novel therapeutic agents and define dangers of polydrug abuse. Further information is available

Join an inspiring two hour special tour of the Garden with the Curator, Nicholas Wray. The early spring delights will include the highly fragrant Chimonanthus praecox (Wintersweet), the bright golden-yellow flowers of Hamamelis mollis (Witch hazel) and the deliciously fragrant Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill.'. Further information is available

Seminar

Talk by Nick Francis, Research Prevention Committees: Unlocking the door to conducting research during pandemicsOrganised by
School of Social and Community Medicine

Dr Nick Francis, Cardiff University.

Oakfield House, Room OS6,
12:45-1:45pm

This talk will focus on how the current political, ethical, and regulatory environment surrounding health research seeks to protect potential participants, but stifles efficiency, and therefore comes at a considerable cost for society. Full synopsis available on the website.. Further information is available

The seminar is free and all are welcome to come.
Contact Laura Fox
on
+44 (0)117 - 331 0124 or
laura.fox@bristol.ac.uk

Tuesday 10 March 2015

Talk by Alan Emond & Jean GoldingOrganised by
School of Social and Community Medicine

ALSPAC was designed as part of a collaborative series of European birth cohorts, the European Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC), to collect similar information in different countries. ELSPAC Isle of Man is an epidemiological birth cohort enrolling over 1000 pregnant mothers. This presentation will outline the differences between the cohorts and opportunities for research. Further information is available

The seminar is free and all are welcome to come.
Contact Laura Fox
on
+44 (0)117 - 331 0124 or
laura.fox@bristol.ac.uk

Wednesday 11 March 2015

Ethics Seminar 2015: From theory to practice? The ethics of inclusive researchOrganised by
Graduate School of Education

Professor Melanie Nind (University of Southampton Education School, Co-director, ESRC National Centre for Research Methods) and Professor Mary Brydon-Miller (University of Cincinnati, directs the University of Cincinnati's Action Research Centre).

G4/5, 10 Woodland Road,
9:30am-5:00pm

This seminar looks at the range of research from the highly theoretical to practice-based research and examines what influences decisions to decide on one approach above another. It takes as its focus, the ethics of inclusive research - from participatory research ethics to the ethics of inclusion. Further information and register here by 4th March

Long-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of CBT as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy for treatment resistant depression in primary care: a follow-up of the CoBalT trialOrganised by
Centre for Academic Mental Health

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been shown to be an effective treatment for depression, including for those individuals whose symptoms have not responded to treatment with antidepressant medication. Further information is available

Talk by Shirlene Badger- The things they carry: An ethnography of the translation of whole genome sequencing of pathogens for clinical utility.Organised by
School of Social and Community Medicine

Shirlene Badger, University of Cambridge.

Oakfield House, Room OS6,
12:45-1:45pm

In the field of clinical microbiology, the databases of pathogens and their associated transmission events are undergoing new techniques providing specific (and at times beautiful) visualisations of genealogy and mobility that extend beyond their history as 'model organisms'. ... full synopsis on website. Further information is available

The seminar is free and all are welcome to come.
Contact Laura Fox
on
+44 (0)117 - 331 0124 or
laura.fox@bristol.ac.uk

Wednesday 13 May 2015

"And for my next trick": Developing an empirically grounded transdiagnostic model and intervention for medically unexplained symptomsOrganised by
Centre for Academic Mental Health

Professor Paul Salkovskis is Professor of Clinical Psychology and Applied Science. In 2010 he was appointed Programme Director for the Clinical Psychology Doctorate Programme at Bath. Previously he was Professor of Clinical Psychology and Applied Science and Clinical Director in the Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma at the Institute of Psychiatry (2000-2010). Further information is available

Workshop

Reading English LiteratureOrganised by
English Department Literature and Creative Writing Short and Day Courses

Gareth Griffith and Amy Laurent.

English Department, 3/5 Woodland Road, BS8 1TB,
6:00-9:00pm

This course is aimed mainly at mature students from the local area who wish to return to study or progress to a part-time degree. You do not need to have any prior qualifications, just explain in your personal statement why you would like to study on this course. Further information and application form (PDF)

Literature and the environmentOrganised by
English Department literature and creative writing short and day courses

Sue Edney.

English Department, 3/5 Woodland Road, BS8 1TB,
6:00-8:00pm

We'll discuss how literature examines environmental concerns. Pollution and industrialisation were alarming to writers as different as Wordsworth and Dickens, H. G. Wells and W. H. Auden. We'll also look at new kinds of writing; Christa Wolf about Chernobyl and the 'airborne toxic event' of Don Delillo's White Noise. To book your place and for further information

We shall study four modern novels: Elizabeth Bowen, The Last September (1929); Philip Larkin, A Girl in Winter (1947); Ian McEwan, Solar (2010); and Antonio Tabucchi, Pereira Maintains (1994). How do these texts express the relationship between personal change and social, political and environmental change?. To book your place and for further information

Writing Autobiography, Memoir, Family HistoryOrganised by
English Department Literature and Creative Writing Short and Day Courses

Sarah LeFanu.

English Department, 3/5 Woodland Road, BS8 1TB,
10:30am-4:00pm

A day for those who enjoy writing and want to explore ways of writing about their own lives. How do you recapture the past? How do you write the events and experiences of a life? How do you bring memories back and give them new life on the page?. To book your place and for further information

Jacobean City Comedies, Sense of Space & PlaceOrganised by
English Department Literature and Creative Writing Short and Day Courses

Emily Derbyshire.

English Department, 3/5 Woodland Road, BS8 1TB,
10:30am-4:00pm

Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker and Ben Jonson offer modern audiences a perspective into 17th Century London. Reflect upon Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday and gain an insight into the capital city as it was four hundred years ago. Scripts provided and an opportunity to participate in/watch performance extracts of the play. To book your place and for further information